The Sport of Olympic Weightlifting is on the verge of making
monumental and sweeping changes in the coming Months. Changes the
likes have not been seen since the introduction of woman into the Olympics in
2000. Bellow I delve deeper into what has lead to this, and give my insight into what likely changes I see taking place.
While most of the Weightlifting world wait in anticipation
of the 2017 World Weightlifting Championships set to begin next week in
Anaheim, a handful of delegates have been behind closed doors deciding the fate
of our sport.
Those handful of delegates are part of the Weightlifting
Working Group of Olympic Results and Information services, or ORIS for short.
They have been tasked with deciding on the new Olympic Qualification systems,
Competition format including event field size as well as the introduction of
new body-weight categories, which is a major change.
I digress. Let’s investigate why these changes are going to
take place and what led up to this.
Chief reasons are that the International Olympic Committee
(I.O.C) is effectively reprimanding the International Weightlifting Federation
(I.W.F) for the number of positive doping cases from previous Olympic Games
(2008 and 2012) and are in search of alternate solutions to avoid such incidents reoccurring in the future.
Sadly, at those Games there were no less than 56 Positive
results for performance enhancing Drugs. This was a huge concern for the IOC
and decision to enforce new regulations was a must. As a result, they threatened
the IWF with expulsion from the Olympics all together unless they could clean
up their act. To further reiterate their stance, the IOC decided to reduce the
overall number of competitors from 260, down to 196, as well as eliminating one
male body-weight category. They used the ruse that by reducing the number of
men’s body-weight divisions from 8 down to 7: it would bring about further
gender equality as both Men and Women would now have 7 Body-weight divisions.
But everyone knows that this was effectively a slap on the wrist from the IOC
to the IWF to make sure they realize the full extent of their predicament.
Which is simple: Clean up your sport, or you are out of the Olympic Games.
So what are these changes going to be? First and foremost,
they have to decide on which men’s body-weight category to cut. I have spoke
with someone who is a member of this committee, and all they could tell me, was
that there will be all new body-weight categories, and only one athlete per Nation will be allowed per medal event. Basically
meaning that China can’t double up the lighter divisions with two medal
contenders. They have also reduced the number of athletes per flight to 14,
effectively eliminating the "B" session from the Olympics. However, what I found most surprising, was that they are seriously considering adding a new lift into
the competition format. YES, a completely NEW LIFT in competition for
Weightlifting.
Bellow are my thought on what I feel the new body-weight
categories could be. This is by no means a certainty, and I am merely
speculating here. But I can see the new categories looking similar to
below;
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Men's Current: (2017)
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Men's Olympic (2020)
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1
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56 kg (123 lbs)
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58 kg (127 lbs)
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2
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62 kg (137 lbs)
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66 kg (145 lbs)
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3
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69 kg (152 lbs)
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75 kg (170)
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4
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77 kg ( 170 lbs)
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86 kg (189 lbs)
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5
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85 kg (187 lbs)
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98 kg (215 lbs)
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6
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94 kg (207 lbs)
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111 kg (244 lbs)
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7
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105 kg (231 lbs)
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111 kg + (244 lbs+)
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8
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105 + kg (231 lbs +)
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Woman's Current: (2017)
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Woman's Olympic (2020)
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1
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48 kg (106 lbs)
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50 kg (110 lbs)
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2
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53 kg (117 lbs)
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56 kg (123 lbs)
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3
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58 kg (128 lbs)
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62 kg (137 lbs)
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4
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63 kg ( 139 lbs)
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69 kg (152 lbs)
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5
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69 kg (152 lbs)
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78 kg (171 lbs)
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6
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75 kg (165 lbs)
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90 kg (198 lbs)
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7
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90 kg (198 lbs)
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90 kg + (198 lbs +)
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8
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90 + (198 lbs +)
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Now on to the real game changer. A possible third lift in
competition. What do I think they could/would/should include?
Up until the late 80’s the sport already had three lifts.
The Snatch, the Clean and Jerk, and the Press. Below is an example of the Press
in competition.
The Press was eventually eliminated in favor of the two
lifts we currently have today, the Snatch and the Clean and Jerk. I think the
general consensus was that the Press was no longer a Power Movement, but a
strength movement more akin to the Sport of Powerlifting.
With that said, I do not see them bringing in a discipline
that mimics or encroaches on the sport of Powerlifting. We are not going to see
a deadlift or squat anytime soon in Olympic Weightlifting. Weightlifting is
about power and generating explosive force, not a strength movement. They need
to find a movement that is technical, and explosive, but neither the snatch or
Clean and Jerk.
Now I know I will take some flack for this from certain
circles, but has anyone ever consider a “thruster”? Yes, I said it, THRUSTER!!!
Or more precisely, a Clean directly into a Push Press
(Thruster). We have already had a PRESS in competition before, so why not add
the more athletic Thruster into the mix. I also think it would be a great nod
to Crossfit’s influence and impact on the Sport of Olympic Weightlifting over
the last 15 years.
The competition format would be first the Snatch, followed
by the Clean into Push Press, and finally the Clean and Jerk, with the
combination of all three lifts equaling your Total lifted. The Winner would be
the athlete whom lifted the combined most weight for all three lifts.
Now that’s something to ponder over. The committee meets on
the 25-26th of November to make their final recommendations to the
IWF. With the World Championships taking place in Anaheim USA the following
week, I do not see them making any announcements until the new year.
You can however be certain that in the new year there will
be major, and monumental announcements in the sport of Olympic Weightlifting.
And now, we wait with bated breath… What do you think the
third lift will be?
